Mindset For Success

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. - Isaiah 26:3 (ESV) In this life, there will be adversity. Sometimes it is self-inflicted due to sin. In that case get on your knees, ask forgiveness, and change your behavior with the help of the Holy Spirit. Other times it is just a result of executing life in a fallen world. It is important to remember that as a transformed follower of Christ, nothing touches me in this life that is not allowed by the Sovereign God of the universe for my good and His glory. As such, the Christ-follower's response should be to focus on the source of your strength, not the source of your adversity. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book! - Psalm 139:16 (Living Bible) Is my focus on the source of my adversity or the source of my strength? Adversity is a bridge to a closer relationship with God. - Charles Stanley My brethren, coun...

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. - Psalm 57:5 The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to His. The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all, we step out of the world's parade. We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world, and increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way. We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its outgoings. Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves by His name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who or what is above, and his tr...

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God's absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us,[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]. - Hebrews 12:1-2 (Amplified Bible) Faith is not a once-done act but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God. It is directing the heart's attention to Jesus, lifting the mind to "Behold the Lamb of God" (John 1:29), and never ceasi...

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. - Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV) Wherever we are, God is here. There is no place, there can be no place, where He is not. God is here. No one is in the mere distance any further from or any nearer to God than any other person. The Presence of God and the manifestation of the Presence of God are not the same. There can be one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His presence. On our part, there must be surrender to the Sp...

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. - Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV) Before the Lord God made man upon the earth, He first prepared for him a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of creation, these are simply "things." In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God, and without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him. But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul. Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine, and things were allowed to enter. The way to a deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom ...

When You said, “ Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “ I shall seek Your face, Lord .” - Psalm 27:8 And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:13 I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. - Proverbs 8:17 Boast in His holy name; May the heart of those who seek the Lord be joyful. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. - Psalm 105:3-4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me And rescued me from all my fears. - Psalm 34:4 May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And may those who love Your salvation say continually, “May God be exalted!” - Psalm 70:4 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. - Lamentations 3:25 The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. - Psalm 34:10 And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for the One who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He proves to be One who rewards...

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will take hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. - Psalm 139:7-12 (NASB) While in this world, we are confined by time, space, and physical laws as established by our Creator. God, however, is not limited by the constraints He has incorporated into His creation. God fills heaven and earth just as the ocean fills a bucket that has been submerged a mile down. The bucket is full of the ocean, but the ocean surrounds the bucket in all directions. So when God says, "I fill heaven and earth," He does, and heaven and earth ...